Settle’s programmes help young people understand how resilient they are and build on their existing strengths.
Photograph: Steven C. De La Cruz/Getty Images/Image Source

Secure housing was a founding principle of the welfare state and meant young people without a family to fall back on used to be able to rely on the safety net of social housing.

But that has all changed. The current housing crisis and changes in government policy, including the 2016 Housing and Planning Act, has meant that this safety net is being withdrawn. Instead, young people at risk of homelessness are stuck in temporary housing or pushed into renting privately. Both are ill-fitting moves that pave the way for a lifetime of involvement with homelessness services.

Young people gain no experience of being independent before they’re doing it real-time with high stakes

Despite the fact that the UK spends up to £26,000 a person every year on housing care leavers and homeless young people temporarily, too few young people are being supported to become independent. Funding is allocated to bed spaces and whoever fills them, so the support for young people does not go with them when it’s time to leave.

Housing providers and local authorities work hard to prepare young people to manage their future homes, but day-to-day it tends to be easier and more time-efficient for key workers to take control. Subsequently, young people gain no experience of being independent before they have to do it for real, on their own. Sadly, as their main option for housing is now in the private rented sector, this inexperience often leads to eviction.

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In 2014, I spent five months working in a 115-bed hostel for 16- to 22-year-olds in Lambeth, south London. I witnessed first hand many of the traps created by poor policymaking and service design. For example, great emphasis is put on young people gaining employment, yet in reality they can rarely take on full-time work – their rent would be devastatingly high without full housing benefit.

Convinced we could create better outcomes for young people and housing providers alike, my colleague Rich Grahame and I set up a social enterprise called Settle. Together, we design and deliver training and support to young people who have been homeless and are now moving into their first home.

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Our programmes are designed to tackle the main causes of youth homelessness – debt, anti-social behaviour and social isolation – but we try to focus on the positive. Often homelessness services are focused on a person’s deficits, ie what they’re lacking, be it housing, employment or skills. Instead, our work is asset based – we help participants understand how their experiences have made them resilient and build upon their existing strengths.

Our curriculum covers three areas: managing money, maintaining a home and having a good lifestyle. Programmes are delivered one-to-one, beginning with an assessment where participants talk about their goals, existing skills and how they like to learn. Each session is then tailored to that young person’s needs.

The response to our work has been really encouraging. We have secured contracts to work with 70 young people living with four housing providers, across five local authorities. One year on from our first pilot, all of our participants have sustained their tenancies or had a positive move.

The best part of my job is when the young people I’m working with begin to direct our sessions. In one case, a participant had realised that the security of their housing rested on their ability to manage their mental health. They mapped out the various services available to them and committed to investigating new forms of self care. These flashes of self-awareness and initiative make me proud and bitter all at once.

While the individual successes we have through Settle makes me proud of the work we do, it’s devastating to realise how needed we are. More and more young people are facing the threat of homelessness and as long as temporary housing and the private rented sector are the only options for them, it’s going to take a lot for vulnerable young people to build an independent future.